By David Lawder and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A chaotic three-month-long fight in Congress over funding the U.S. domestic security agency finally ended on Tuesday, but not before it highlighted House Speaker John Boehner's inability to halt the Republican Party's further descent into…

Authorities are investigating a report of shots fired on Tuesday near the National Security Agency headquarters in Maryland and damage to an NSA building, a U.S. Park Police spokeswoman said. Shots were reported near an exit along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway leading to Fort Meade, site of the…

By Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has concluded that the Ferguson, Missouri, police department routinely engages in racially biased practices, a law enforcement official familiar with the department's findings said on Tuesday. The investigation into the police…

By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lawyers for the man convicted of murdering Chris Kyle, the former U.S. Navy SEAL whose best-selling autobiography was turned into the movie "American Sniper," have filed a notice of appeal with a Texas court, court officials said on Tuesday. Eddie Ray…

By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned lawmakers on Tuesday that continuing cuts to U.S. defense spending were causing "corrosive damage to our national security" and he urged them to back the president's request for a big boost in military funding in 2016. …

By Sarah McBride and Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Venture capitalist John Doerr on Tuesday sought to fend off allegations of sexism at his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, in testimony in a gender discrimination lawsuit targeting the firm. In the suit, former Kleiner partner Ellen…

(Reuters) - A 21-year-old man tried to bribe sheriff's deputies in Arizona with a wad of cash after crashing his car in a fiery, rollover collision that killed a 27-year-old woman in the passenger seat, authorities said. Joseph Wilson, 21, first gave a fake name to an officer who responded to the…

By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The shooting deaths of three youngsters after unattended guns ended up in the hands of children in the Houston area in the past five days have prompted calls by some in Texas to re-examine gun safety in homes. The incidents included a 3-year-old who…

By Gary Robertson RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - Virginia's cash-strapped Sweet Briar College will close at the end of the summer, administrators said on Tuesday, part of a sharp decline in the number of U.S. women's schools. The 114-year-old school near Lynchburg is closing because of …

By Mark Hosenball and Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former CIA Director David Petraeus has agreed to plead guilty to mishandling classified information, with the retired four-star general admitting to giving eight "black books" full of such data to a military mistress who was writing his…

At least 15 students were exposed to pepper spray at a Washington school on Tuesday and treated for minor injuries, city officials said. The incident occurred at about 1:40 p.m. after someone sprayed pepper spray into a classroom, the Washington Post reported. The students at Cesar Chavez Public…

By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal disaster relief officials have settled with a first swath of Hurricane Sandy victims who were denied insurance claims or underpaid for property damage caused by the historic 2012 storm, attorneys said on Tuesday. New York and New Jersey residents have…

By Natasja Sheriff NEW YORK (Reuters) - A prosecutor testifying at the trial of a man accused of the 1979 murder of a New York City boy on Tuesday defended a decision not to tape hours of police questioning of the suspect, saying it was common practice at the time not to record such interviews. …

By Kevin Murphy OLATHE, Kan. (Reuters) - A Kansas judge on Tuesday ordered a Missouri white supremacist to stand trial on capital murder charges in the shooting deaths of three people outside two Jewish centers in a Kansas City suburb last April. Johnson County District Court Judge Thomas Kelly…

A Russian lawyer for Edward Snowden said on Tuesday the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor who leaked details of the government's mass surveillance programs was working with American and German lawyers to return home. In Washington, U.S. officials said they would welcome Snowden's return…

(Reuters) - A Maryland couple who drew national attention for being "free-range" parents after police found their children walking home alone have been found responsible for child neglect, a state child protective services spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The finding of "unsubstantiated child neglect"…

By Zachary Fagenson MIAMI (Reuters) - Newly computerized state tests were suspended on Tuesday in some of Florida’s largest public school districts after students across the state struggled with faulty software. The 60-to-90-minute exams are a Florida version of the controversial Common Core…

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared unsure over how to resolve a privacy rights challenge by hotel operators to a Los Angeles city ordinance, intended to deter crimes including prostitution, that lets police view guest registries. The court…